Blistering...

....runs in the buggy at Keilor park today that is.

Jolli and George were there when I arrived, playing with a couple of revs, a 3m sami and a (3m I think) haka.

I started with a 3.5 Cult but that was picking me up off the ground in static before I could even get my butt in the seat, then when I did get in it dragged me clean out and along the ground so went to a 2m brooza in gusty, difficult wind from 20-40 knots. Not a lot of luck with that either. One minute underpowered, the next, couldnt hold onto it.

Downsized to a 1.5 imp but walking pace was useless.

Took a lunch break after about an hour or so, hooking into some lemon pepper chicken wings, a prosciuttto and salad roll or two and a few gulps of a nice Jacobs Creek Shiraz.

Spent some time while the conditions relaxed keeping a close eye on my boys while they had a bit of a fly, the elder of the two harnessed into the Cult 3.5 and little knackers and his cousin putting the 2m Brooza through it paces, or was it putting them through theirs... hard to tell sometimes.

That all done, and both kites packed away safely, a wee bit of Shiraz inspired dutch courage had settled in....

Mucked around with an 8m Acess for a bit but couldnt seem to find the right place to hold it in the window.

Dom showed up and found he had a flat back tyre on his Libre so he took off to get a replacement. Soon he was back and in no time was doing laps among us, swapping back and forth between a 5m Blurr and a 6m Acess 2.

Bugger it....Unleash the 4.9 Blade IV.

All bets off, forget the helmet... sleeves up and bam... cutting laps at mad speeds, monster power slides. Sending it high to slow down in up-winderly directions and just about getting lifted out of the seat. Twas quite a fearsome workout for the upper body riding unhooked with that Blade. The pungent smell of grass on heated tyres lingering long. I never turned a gps on but I reckon we would have been hitting 60kph plus in the end, regularly.

Getting blasted around by some very grumpy gusts compliments of mother nature and then Jolli and George in unison, got airborn over a grassy rise onto a football field adjacent to the reserve where we were buggying. Somehow getting tangled slightly, George as close as one can get without actually landing on top of Jolli then snapping a line on his other rev and both of them narrowly missing a point post as they fly to the right in mid air. Psycho mofos indeed.

Ordinary start, awesome finish to a cold, prickly gusting day.

Great to catch up with some champion blokes again.

A good night for fish and chips I believe.

Cheers,

Nas.

yeah it dropped to about 10 or 12 knots with regular bursts of 15 to 20..

There were some eye popping moments.

What a bad arse kite those blade IVs are... Its amazing how far into the wind you can actually push with one. Kitepower Steve actually tweaked it for me when we flew in Geelong a while back and its an even more sensational kite now than what it was new.

Jolli and George share just as much enthusiasm as Dom, all super kite dudes and all more than willing to spend time sharing info and tips. George has only kited in the buggy about 8 times or something and he is very good. I shall send your regards to Dom next time I see him.

I think Dom will be up that way in the coming week.

Might have to pop into Stockton sometime myself and have a gig.

Get a decent sized fillet of trevally.

chop some fennel finely... the fluffy top of the plant not the bulb part.

place the fish on a chopping board skin down...make a few slices across the flesh of the fish 3/4 deep or so, on a bit of an angle... 3 or 4 slashes will do.

Rub lots of fennel onto the fish, making sure to get it into the slashes.... salt and pepper it, drizzle olive oil onto it, dont be scabby with the oil and squeeze a half a lemon onto it too...pat it all down nice and even.... you might get this fennel 3 or 4mm thick covering the fish, thats what youre after. It should look like youve empytied the grass catcher from the victa over it, within reason. Making sure you get plenty of the oil, lemon and salt/pepper on the other bit of the board so you can slap the fillet down onto it and this will stick to the skin.

Drop that into a nice oiled frypan and cook it for 80% of the cooking time skin down, so it goes crispy.

while this is happening, get some european natural yoghurt about half a tub maybe and spoon it into a bowl.... finely dice half a cucumber and pop it into the yoghurt. Finely chop some sage and drop it in so the yoghurt becomes speckled with it, then chop up a jalapeno chili into like, 5c piece sized rings or alternatively into thin strips length ways... and keep those aside as a garnish last of all and try to keep the seeds among the red flesh..

Swear at anyone getting too close to the kitchen just for affect and especially swear at anyone trying to touch any of the ingredients... then order someone to get that person a drink, just for balance.

Once the fish is cooked skin side down, flip it if your game, pizza style...or use a couple of egg flips to turn it over and cook the fennel side down for a few good mins in a hottish frypan.

Once thats done place the fish on the serving plate fennel side up.... break it off at the 3 or 4 slashes you made, and kind of over lap those pieces of fish onto one another...like roofing tiles if you get my drift. then dollop some of your yoghurt riata, and sprinkle some chilli over the top of it all.

(your sauv blanc or chardy if your a bit of a yuppy should be chilled well, and aired by now ready to go)

For a cool look, wipe around the edges of the plate like a pro chef would...

and 2, 4, 6, 8.... "wow" factor 12/10 no bull.

blue grenadier is no good.... it juices up heavily and makes things too sloppy I found this out sat night when I did it for the lovely lisa who spent the weekend with me, but it still went down a treat.... the trevally wont get sloppy or break up upon transferring and it will remain firm and easier to deal and visually appealing once you have to start turning it over or moving it from pan to plate etc.

I did the trevally version for sue the bandana wearing freako sexo psycho maniac a couple of weeks ago and after she said she wasnt very hungry, I turned my back for 2 seconds to fetch a camera to photograph the fish, and by the time I returned, she had hooked into it and was unable to talk because she was eating, saying mmmm as she nodded with a serious look in her eyes at me and was enjoying it so much.



a sesh AND a bash ?

cool, I will bring my kite gear, and the silver boxing gloves with the signiatures Nelson and Fenech on them.